Branch event: The critical role of trees in critical zone science

The Hawke’s Bay Branch of the Royal Society Te Apārangi presents a talk by Dr Kamini Singha, Associate Director of the Hydrologic Science and Engineering Program at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr Singha is on a 12 lecture tour of Australia and NZ, presenting The National Groundwater Association’s prestigious 2017 Charles Darcy Lecture in Groundwater Sciences.

Earth’s “critical zone” — the zone of the planet from treetops to base of groundwater — is critical because it is a sensitive region, open to impacts from human activities, while providing water necessary for human consumption and food production.

Quantifying water movement in the sub-surface is critical to predicting how water-driven critical zone processes respond to changes in climate and human perturbation of the natural system. This presentation opens the black box in the sub-surface, and sheds light on a few key sub-surface processes that control water movement and availability. Geophysical tools are central to the quantitative study of these problems in the deeper sub-surface where we don’t have easy access for observation. In particular, this lecture explores the role of trees in the critical zone, and their connection to soil moisture, groundwater and streams, through innovative imaging.

Entry: gold coin donation